joining us from washington, the host of mmsnbc's "hardball," chris matthews, the author of "jack kennedy: elusive hero." good morning. we're going to get to politics in a moment. first, an update on the storm sandy, identified as a post tropical cyclone after a night that left people without power and created massive problems up and down the eastern seaboard. flood waters made it difficult for firefighters to reach a massive six-alarm fire that destroyed 50 homes overnight in the borough of queens. with power out to nearly 700,000 people in and around new york city, much of the iconic manhattan skyline was pitch black with only the empire state building illuminating the sky. a crane partially collapsed at the start of the storm is still dangling from a high-rise. and at ground zero, sea water flooded through the construction site there as low-lying streets and neighborhoods along the hudson rivers were swamped. let's go to bill karins for the latest on the storm. >> good morning to you guys. and it's just starting to settle in. and once these pictures come in, it's going to be incredible